A Comparative Study driven by Spatial Performance and VR toward Wayfinding in Architectural Space: Healthcare Buildings as a Case Study

Healthcare buildings can be complicated to navigate, causing patients to experience stress and lose time if not adequately planned. This study aims to identify the relationship between the spatial layout in healthcare buildings and wayfinding for users, by utilizing Behavioral Sequence Analysis (BSA) and Space Syntax through Immersive Virtual Reality (iVR). The methodology is based on behavioral and spatial data and was tested by using the experimental setups in VR environments. Space syntax analysis is applied to collect spatial data. Experiments were conducted by assigning wayfinding tasks in virtual hospitals with various plan configurations. Behavioral data obtained from BSA was associated with the spatial data driven by the space syntax analysis to gain a comprehensive understanding of the participants’ wayfinding behavior. The results indicate that the semi-centralized floor plan layout with high visibility levels performs better in wayfinding while the decentralized layout with low visibility values performs worse.